Practice makes perfect, and Asma Mundrawala, Saife Hasan and Mahvash Faruqi of Zambeel Dramatic Readings that combines “literature and performance,” seem to have gathered all strengths to draw close to perfection. Their recent reading of two short stories, “The Body” (in English) and “Tishnagi” (in Urdu), by Afsan Chowdhury and Masood Mufti respectively, at The Second Floor, was a pleasure to listen to. The first reading of these stories took place back in November when they opened for the Vasl and Citizens Archives Project, “State of being divided”.

The two stories were quite a pick for their project, Shigaaf, that commemorated the 40th anniversary of the 1971 war. The stories brought out the goriness of war, and the numbness, the pain and the torment that follows wars. They also demonstrated the trio’s mettle as they brought forth the pain and the sense of dejection in the stories.

“The Body”, from the book Fault Lines: Stories of 1971, is the story of a woman, Malooti, who finds the decapitated body of her husband, Shankar, lying with countless others. She is accompanied by her young son in the task of identifying the body, putting the pieces in a gunny bag and dragging them back home.

On returning home, some men question the body’s identity. This they determine by checking whether it is circumcised. While they leave Malooti and the children believing that they are Muslim, she realises that she has picked up the wrong body though the head is Shankar’s.

“Tishnagi,” from the book, Pakistan Kay Shahkar Urdu Afsaanay, also has a powerful storyline: a young boy, Manju, and his friends, Sallu and Bhola, indulge in the pastime of tracing corpses flowing through the stream that runs through the middle of their city. The story is set in the days after Pakistan Army’s surrender in East Pakistan.

The pastime becomes a routine as every morning they watch bodies drift in the water. Many in the crowd watching the corpses consider them baaghi (rebels) who must have collaborated with the Pakistan army, while others wonder if they were rightly murdered. While initially their sight sends jitters down the spine gradually a queer sense of callousness towards the existence of violence sets in. Both storylines are full of impact and masterfully depict the psychological aftermath of violence and wars.

Chowdhury had originally written “The Body” in Bangla and it was translated into English by Sabreena Ahmad. Masud Mufti had been posted in Dhaka for many years as a member of Pakistan Civil Service. The writers have felt the ravages of war at close proximity.

Correspondingly, the reading was nuanced with the right kind of emphasis on delivery at various situations. The fact that the performers have been trained theatrically gave them a sense of control over the script. Mahvash, Saife and Asma have been part of Sheema Kermani’s Tehrik-i-Niswan for almost 13 years. They also pursue interests professionally in related fields.

For them, theatrics and dramatic readings have many similarities. “We rehearse for the readings the way it is done for theatre and take conscious decisions regarding sound and music and the clothes that we wear during performances,” says Asma. “The difference is that it’s minimal in terms of physical movement.”

She adds that they have no particular objective when choosing their stories. “We read out stories that we find interesting,” says Asma. While dramatic readings border theatre, it finds more of its bearings in the institution of story telling that was so integral to our culture and literature. The Zambeel readers may soon find themselves etched in history for reviving this very significant aspect of literature that seems to have been recently overlooked.

The writer is a Dawn staffer